Finished! A bodice ripper set in 18th Century Caribbean, starring a tortured pirate and a stubborn widow. The first chapter began life as a slighty silly short story Ravished by a Pirate but I enjoyed writing it so much I've changed the ending to turn it into the first chapter of a novel.

Chapters:

Henry Lucas regarded Letitia across the dining table, and she
could not help shuddering under his cold gaze, but she managed to
lift her chin and smile back at him, fighting to keep her
revulsion in check. His eyes flicked over her, settling on her
heaving bosom and he returned her smile, raising his napkin to
prissily wipe the corner of his mouth. How had she ever found him
attractive? Her skinned crawled to look at him now.

"Are you well, my darling?" he said in his smooth cultivated
slur. "You look ... troubled."

"I am fine," she replied, avoiding his penetrating stare.

"Where did you get to this afternoon?" he asked coolly. "Your
disappearance from the Governor's tea party was noted. It was
most impolite of you to leave so abruptly."

"I needed some air," she said.

His eyes stayed fixed on her and he eventually said, "I will
require your company tomorrow. It is the day of the trial and you
must attend the court with me. Your absence will cause tongues to
wag even further. I will not endure that kind of talk. My fiancée
must be seen to be dutiful."

She just stared at her plate, not trusting herself to speak.

"And I am sure you are eager to see that common criminal hanged
for his crimes against you."

She glanced up at him to find his eyes full of a chilling
excitement.

"But he must be found guilty first," she stammered.

"Oh you must not worry yourself about that. The trial will be
nothing but a brief formality." He abruptly stood, pushing his
chair back from the table. " I have business to attend to
tonight. I will call for you in the morning."

As he opened the door, she caught a glimpse of one of his burly
henchmen standing in the corridor, and he spoke briefly to him as
he left. The man gave her a meaningful stare as he closed the
door on her. She had a feeling that Henry was ensuring she stayed
just where she was until she accompanied him to the trial in the
morning. She scanned the empty room desolately and prayed that
Grace and Hanson would somehow come to her aid.

***

Grace nervously waited for the knock on the door that she knew
was coming. She could feel the cold steel of the dagger she had
tucked beneath the waistband of her breeches and it gave her a
small comfort as her stomach heaved with the horror that she was
about to face. "Come alone," she had said in the note and she
hoped that his vanity would mean he would do just that, presuming
she harboured desire for him rather than the intense hatred she
actually felt. He was a man who expected women to fall at his
feet, regardless of how he treated them and she had played on
this delusion. She had left her breasts unbound and her bare skin
pricked with fear beneath her thin shirt as she waited. It was
almost nine and he was still not here. She did not think she
could stand to wait any longer.

Then the knock on the door came and she bid him enter in a voice
that hardly sounded like her own.

He walked into the room dressed more soberly than usual, his dark
hair tied back, his handsome face fixed in its usual haughty
expression. His eyes darkened as he saw Grace sitting on the bed
waiting for him, her shirt open to reveal the swell of her
unbound breasts.

"Grace Ferris," he said almost licking his thin lips. "I have
waited a long time to have you again."

She kept her expression blank as she leaned back slightly and
regarded him with what she hoped looked like desire, despite the
anger that was boiling in her. How could he possibly think that
she had forgotten the circumstances of their last encounter? How
could he think that she had found his rough assault pleasurable
in any way? That she would want to repeat the experience? He was
far more dangerous than she had ever thought. And to think that
she had resisted Hanson and lied to him for so long, telling him
she was a virgin. She wanted to pull the knife out and sink it
into his evil heart, but she just curled her fingers into tight
fists and smiled at him silkily.

"Come to me then," she said. "Show me what it's like to have a
real man again," and she almost winced at the words as he
advanced towards her, desperately controlling the instinctive
reaction to back away from him.

Her eyes were fixed on the door as Henry Lucas's hands touched
her shoulders and she stopped herself from flinching. "Now
Joshua! Now!" she pleaded silently, but with a growl, he roughly
pushed her down onto the bed and rammed his knee between her legs
and then at last the door burst open and before he could react,
the man looming above her felt the cold, hard muzzle of a
blunderbuss pressed into the back of his skull.